Travel loses its edge as moment marketing picks up elsewhere

Less than a year ago, travel and tourism brands were deemed to be leading the way when it comes to so-called "moment marketing". But other industries have caught up.

Not only have they caught up but three sectors - entertainment and media, business and industrial, and retail - are now deemed to be more sophisticated in their respective approaches to the discipline.

For those still unknowing what the concept is, "moment marketing" is the idea of idea of hitting consumers with relevant messages during a particular event or scenario - in a bid to capture that moment of inspiration that might lead them to searching and then buying a product.

Whilst the concept isn’t entirely new, social media and the technological overhaul of other communication channels have allowed marketers to become more efficient, timely and – hopefully – effective.

Furthermore, the importance of moment marketing is being led by the fact that many consumers are often looking at their mobile smartphones more than 200 times per day, giving marketers an opportunity to hit potential travellers with messages that are related to external factors.

The company now says that whilst the travel industry is not falling back in its own levels of "sophistication", but instead its comrades in other sectors have picked up on the concept in the last 12 months and run with it.

Many brands are seizing on the real-time, reactive elements such as the weather, competitor advertising and disruption to push their marketing campaigns.

Some of the top events that have been used to hang a campaign on include the UEFA Euros, Olympics, Wimbledon, EU Referendum, Champions League Final, Oscars, and talent shows such as the X-Factor.

The wider back-drop to the increased use of "moment marketing" is an apparent rising cost of advertising per se.

This has led brands across the spectrum to focus their activities, especially in digital, on just a select number of events and with better targeting on customers.

TVTY CEO, Eliott Reilhac, says there is continuing pressure to optimise ad spend but "moment marketing is also allowing brands to launch highly innovative campaigns that are delivering amazing results".

"Over the next 12 months we expect to see brands widen the variety of triggers they use and launch even more 'Always Ready' campaign strategies.
"The automation trend will continue - clearly, when brands are wanting to react instantly, 24/7, to such triggers, it is virtually impossible to do so manually."